We all know that Windows 7 is on its way, planned for release somewhere late 2009 or early 2010. We already know it will have a multitouch framework, no major kernel and/or driver framework changes, and a new taskbar people at Microsoft are not supposed to talk about right now. The firs two milestone releases didn't appear to be very exciting, but now there is - supposedly - a milestone 3 (build 6780) release, and there is a screenshot, and more information on UI changes. According to Microsoft blogger Stephen Chapman, the ribbon will make its way to Windows 7.

For *me*, this smells like a lock-in strategy. Let's get everyone used to Ribbons, so they'll have a hard time working with other UIs elsewhere; from a rational standing point i see no other good reason to do this (the argument of otherwise-just-a-failed-investment doesn't really hold here, because, this is Microsoft, guys, they wouldn't deeply care for a few hundred million lost if they found it's something not worth keeping).